So in general we're very comfortable and have enough left over each month to do something with, but what? Regarding housing, we're in a very high cost of living area in California, so a house would be something on the order of 650k+

If you focused on debt and could pay it all off in one year, I would do that. It would make your savings goal more obvious to you and would feel good that the debt is gone. If you could do that, you could then save $40K each year for your other goals.

Also save more in tax-deferred accounts since it will lower your income taxes.

You mentioned this but was not one of the options, tighten your budget 1st, increase retirement savings to 15%, pay off car, pay off student loan, increase your house savings, college savings would be last.

There also seems to be a general consensus that college funding is a low priority - could someone give a brief reasoning or a link to a discussion of why this is?

One reasoning: by analogy to "put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others", you "provide for your own retirement plan before assisting your kids' college payments." If you end up doing both, more power to you.

Thank you for the replies so far, very helpful, especially the links FiveK.

We currently are at ~8% to retirement accounts, seems like a general consensus to get that to more like 15%, and also to pay off the debts.

With such helpful advice it seems like a financial advisor is not necessary as well.

There also seems to be a general consensus that college funding is a low priority - could someone give a brief reasoning or a link to a discussion of why this is?

Thanks again!

You really should sit down and figure out what your personal priorities are. It is easy for others to make recommendations based on interest rates and their personal priorities, but what are yours?

For instance, we put a high priority on paying for our kids' education and were prepared to work longer to be able to do so. So saving for college was important to us. Others might want to retire as early as possible, and direct most of their savings toward that goal.

So what is important to you?

Doing your best to cut expenses to save more in all of the categories you mentioned should be a high priority too.